Salt Lake Community College

Self-Centeredness and Ecological Consciousness

Alison Plant
Bio1120
400

Everyone lives by their own code of ethics. Ethics are a set of moral
rules that each of us tries to follow and abide by in order to create and
maintain a positive environment and do what we believe is morally right. In
1949, the ecologist Aldo Leopold published a book titled A Sand County
Almanac, With Essays on Conservation from Round River introducing the
concept of the land ethic. The idea was for humans to enlarge our current
idea of ethics to consider the non-human elements of the world, or as he
puts it simply, the land. Every person is individually responsible for the
health of the environment and has a personal duty to take care of it.
According to Leopold, in order to make this change, we must stop
thinking of the environment solely in terms of economic gain. The notion that
something is only valuable if it has economic value is a toxic attitude. Most of
land has no economic value however it is still very important to nurture and
care for. For example, soil may have no apparent value but it is infinitely
valuable for providing energy to organisms in an ecosystem. Currently,
people are all too often only willing to do things to help the environment if it
is of immediate economic benefit to them. Instead, they should be done out
of respect for and an ethical obligation to nature and land.
In order to improve any conservation effort, of course education is
paramount. A good point is brought up by Leopold however, that the issue
may not be the volume of education that is being presented regarding
conservation, rather the content (or perhaps both). Education must work to

shift from the idea of conservation because of self-interest to conservation

because of social conscience. If education begins to emphasize the intrinsic
value of nature and the fact that individuals have a moral duty to the land,
conservation will no longer be a question.
I appreciate the intrinsic value of nature. The most calm and peaceful
place to be is at home in New England on the beach listening to the waves
crash against the shore. I do believe that I have a moral obligation to help
land and I do when I see the opportunity. I have an appreciation for nature
and do not like to see it being destroyed. Admittedly, there is a lot more that
I could personally do to go out of my way to improve my conservation
efforts.
In many ways, the feeling is ingrained in me that as a human I am
conqueror of the land community and therefor can use whatever I desire. I
do respect land but I believe that in changing ones attitude and, in turn,
behavior, from conqueror of land to member of land community, some major
adjustments must be made. According to Leopold, in order to participate as a
plain member and citizen of the land community, one must show respect to
other members of the land community. In practice, this may mean becoming
a vegetarian, using public transportation or a bicycle instead of driving and
contributing to pollution, helping with different conservation efforts, or just
going out of my way not to squish a bug.

Unfortunately, I would not say much has changed since Leopold

discussed land-relations in the 1940s. We live in a society that is selfcentered and motivated by money. Our land-relations are still economically
motivated, feeling like we can take everything we desire but no obligation to
care for the environment. I do, however feel that we are improving our
conservation efforts and doing more and possibly care more about the
environment as a society than ever before but it is still more often than not,
coming from a selfish, economically-motivated place. I have often seen
showmanship like recycling drives sponsored by large corporations that are
responsible for a lot of pollution, for example.
As I have admitted, I am not perfect when it comes to land ethic. In
order to apply land ethic to my own life, I would need to reevaluate how I
treat nonhuman members of my community and also consider the
implications. I respect my dogs but if I were to treat them with as much
respect as I treat one of my human peers, I would not be walking them
outside on a leash- is this something to consider? To extend my communitys
sensibilities to nonhumans in my community would certainly mean that pets
are no longer ethical to own. I would also stop driving my car because I
would not wish to be treated that way and polluted if I were the air.
There not often a definitive right or wrong way to look at a situation.
Because of this, I try not to speak in absolutes. In Leopolds The Land Ethic
he states that a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity,

stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends

otherwise. I cannot say that I agree with this statement because there are
situations that I can think of where something may not preserve the
integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community but is still not
necessarily wrong. As an extreme example, if someone that I love, or
anyone for that matter was dying and I had to cut down a tree in order to
save him or her, I would not look at my decision to cut down that tree as
wrong in any way. The integrity of the biotic community is important but if
it were a dire situation like my example, it does not supersede the individual
members of the community.
My love for nature started very young. I have always appreciated
nature and the beauty of nature. There is nobody else that I have met that
has gotten as excited about sunrises and sunsets as I. The aesthetics of
nature is what I fell in love with and drew me in. I have a very strong sense of
empathy though, so I do experience the ethical draw to take care of the land.
Extreme empathy can be both a blessing and a curse as it has been a
detriment to my life before. I do find that because of it I maybe appreciate
things more than most and am able to experience deeper emotional
connections.
I have always had a desire to help others. When I see others hurt, I feel
hurt. This isnt just true for humans but also animals. Although the land ethic
I have does stem mostly from self-interest, part of it is from my strong sense

of empathy. I live on my own, thousands of miles away from my family, work

full-time to support myself, and go to school full-time. Many of the decisions
that I make are in my own self-interest in order to best protect and take care
of myself. That being said, I do go out of my way to recycle and will
sometimes take public transportation instead of driving just because its
better for the environment.

My views on the environment and conservation are different after

reading The Land Ethic. I had never seriously thought about land ethic
before or given much thought to what else I could be doing for our
environment until I read Aldo Leopolds essay. Before starting to read it, I
thought it was going to be a long, bland scientific article and I was dreading
opening the book. Science has never been a subject that has clicked in my
brain for some reason. I was pleased to see that his emotions and passion
really showed through in his writing though which made it an enjoyable read
for me and it was also easy to follow.
My favorite part was when he brought up lands part in history and how
many different monumental moments in history could have gone differently
if it werent for land. It wasnt something I had ever thought about before and
it did make me appreciate nature more. Something that I found interesting,
albeit sad, is the fact that it was published over sixty years ago and it is still
relevant. The case study about the farmers in Wisconsin failing to write their

own rules on land-use in exchange for free service and machinery and only
making changes that were easy and profitable was also interesting to read.
The parts about A-B Cleavage in the essay, however, were my least
favorite and hard for me to follow.
During reading and after I was finished reading the essay, I felt guilty. I
know that although I do appreciate nature, I do not respect the land in the
way the Leopold talks about- acting as if I, as a human, am on the same level
as nonhuman members of the community. The essay was effective though,
because I started thinking about ways that I can be more active and help
with conservation efforts. Overall, it was a great read and I might even
recommend it to my boyfriend as a quick, interesting read.